State Budget Sinkhole Grows - Sign on to Responsible Budget Coalition

The State Journal-Register reported October 14 that this year's state budget is $900 million higher than expected.

As AIDSConnect pointed out last week, next year's state budget is projected to reach nearly $12 billion.

What can we do? Join the Responsible Budget Coalition!

The coalition is advocating for a revenue mix like that contained in HB 174, a comprehensive tax-reform package passed by the Illinois Senate and approved by a committee of the Illinois House. This fiscal crisis has been brought on by a long-standing structural budget deficit and an economic downturn.  It cannot be solved without significant new revenue.

Download the form and send it in.

Highlights of the SJR's report:

"This year’s budget was put together with the assumption that income tax revenue would be about the same as last year, around $10.2 billion. But the latest projections now show revenues falling by $850 million," [Illinois budget director David] Vaught said...

“Basically, what happened is unemployment is worse than what the economists were projecting,” he said. “We’re in the same boat as the rest of the economy.”

Declines in revenue from other sources, including gambling, bring the total current-year short-fall to over $900 billion.

Read the rest.